Dec. 12 (Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group LP hired Gary
DeLapp, the former head of the Extended Stay hotel chain, as
president of its home-rental business.

DeLapp, 52, said he will bring hotel-style service to
tenants of Blackstone’s Invitation Homes LP, the largest U.S.
single-family home landlord. The Dallas-based company has spent
about $7.8 billion to buy 41,000 houses since April 2012.

“It’s our house because we acquired it,” DeLapp said in a
telephone interview. “But it’s their home.”

Wall Street-backed private-equity firms, hedge funds and
real estate investment trusts are part of a burgeoning industry
of institutional landlords seeking to take advantage of home
prices that fell by a third in the housing crash and rising
demand for rentals. The six largest investors have spent more
than $15 billion buying at least 90,000 properties in the last
two years, according to Deutsche Bank AG.

The U.S. has about 14 million single-family rental houses,
most of which have historically been owned and operated by mom
and pop landlords.

DeLapp said Invitation Homes is able to provide better
renter experiences than small landlords, offering benefits such
as round-the-clock service for tenants with backed up toilets,
failed air conditioners or other emergencies. It’s able to lower
costs by procuring products in bulk through vendor partners,
such as buying construction materials from Home Depot Inc. and
appliances from General Electric Co., he said.

DeLapp joined Invitation Homes in October, Jonathan Gray,
Blackstone’s head of real estate, said in an interview. Nick
Gould will remain chairman and chief executive officer.

Extended Stay

DeLapp was president and chief executive officer of HVM
LLC, the operators of Extended Stay hotels, from 2001 to 2011.

Blackstone is a co-owner of Extended Stay. Its investments
in the chain illustrate its ability to time real estate cycles,
which the private-equity firm is trying to repeat with its
rental-home company.

Blackstone bought Extended Stay for $3.1 billion in 2004
and sold it for $8 billion in June 2007 to Lightstone Group LLC.
Blackstone, joined by Centerbridge Partners LP and Paulson &
Co., bought the hotels again for $3.9 billion in 2010, the year
after it was pushed into bankruptcy. The hotel chain went public
as Extended Stay America Inc. in November, raising $565 million
in a public offering, almost tripling the paper value of the
three investors’ stakes.